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The Great Red Sea Coast Roadtrip

Where should you base yourself next time you go diving in Egypt It used to be either Sharm or Hurghada, but now El this, Wadi that and Marsa the other are vying for your attention. Hitching rides in minibuses, 4x4s and pick-ups, plus the odd taxi, John Liddiard decided to check them all out...

The Great Red Sea Coast Roadtrip

Where should you base yourself next time you go diving in Egypt It used to be either Sharm or Hurghada, but now El this, Wadi that and Marsa the other are vying for your attention. Hitching rides in minibuses, 4x4s and pick-ups, plus the odd taxi, John Liddiard decided to check them all out...

AS USUAL, THE AIRPORT ARRIVAL HALL AT SHARM EL SHEIKH IS A CONFUSION of numerous queues and a total lack of directions. I am assaulted by tour reps hustling to line up in the wrong place, and the whole set-up has been re-arranged since I was last here. Eventually I find the bank hidden round the back, and buy my visa stamp before moving on to the immigration queue. Outside, I spot Simon from Poseidon Divers holding a welcome card. My first of many connections made, travel shock diminishes. It is all metaphorically downhill for a while. The journey to Dahab across the Sinai mountains takes an hour or so by Toyota minibus. Stargazing through the clear desert night is facilitated by the driver leaving his lights off; something you soon get used to on Egyptian roads at night. The air is dusty and dry. By the time we arrive, I have consumed a 2 litre bottle of water and am making good progress into a second bottle. Even so, when beer is offered I donÃ•t need asking twice. I just need to unwind. As with many of my diving adventures, the idea for this trip had been hatched at a Dive Show. The managing editor and I had been debating how to do something different about the Red Sea. Ideas spurred more crazy ideas. The scope of the project grew to cover all of the Egyptian Red Sea in a hectic three-week road trip. In the end I managed to schedule eight locations at two days each, with the odd extra half-day here and there. The northernmost centre was Dahab in the Sinai, the southernmost Wadi Lahami, almost at the Sudan border. I went through a number of working titles: Mad Red Sea Project for Diver Magazine; Red Sea Quick and Dirty (quick because of the taxi drivers and dirty because there would be little time to wash); Red Sea Pole to Pole; The Incomplete Guide to Almost All of the Red Sea; The Secret Red Sea Diary of John Mole, age 42. The Red Sea is full of spectacular coral reefs, so my real challenge, and the challenge I presented to each dive centre, was to show me what was different about its patch.

DIY TOURING

If you want to do your own thing and travel around in Egypt as John Liddiard did, its easy simply to e-mail a dive centre and book a couple of days diving, or just turn up (though there is a risk that it could be full). Those centres which work through UK tour operators are generally cheaper if booked through the agent.

A taxi between major towns will cost£15-30 for most journeys. Bus services range from ridiculously cheap through to air-conditioned coaches. Timetable information is not aimed at tourists and schedules can be unpredictable.

The ferry from Sharm el Sheikh to Hurghada costs£27 each way and runs every other day (www.travco-eg.com/ferryboat.htm).